“To the Lumina.”
Of course. Had Eris really expected any different? Safire was a soldier. Not just a soldier, a commander of soldiers. She loved the law. And Eris was a lawbreaker. Why wouldn’t she hand her over to the Lumina? Safire and the Lumina had mutual goals. They were one and the same.
The thought struck Eris to the bone.
“Why not just stay with Kor, then?” Eris said coldly. “He’d have delivered us to the empress in half the time it’ll take you to find your way to the capital.”
“I’m sure he would have,” said Safire. “But I dislike being at the mercy of others.”
Eris, who’d been at the mercy of others all her life, felt something snap inside her. “Spoken like a true princess.”
Safire cut her with a gaze.
Eris looked away angrily.
They walked on in silence. As the effects of the draft began to wear off, Eris realized that Safire was leading them in the same direction they’d been going yesterday. She was taking the same shortcut Kor had chosen to take. The one that led straight past the place Eris swore she’d never go back to.
At that, Eris halted. The manacles drew taut against her wrists. Eris hissed as the steel dug into her wounds, bringing with it a vicious sting.
“We’re going the wrong way,” she said, her lie wrestling with the sound of thunder above.
Safire turned to face her. The torch was dying, too wet to burn brightly. The bit of flame struggling to stay alive made Safire’s dark hair glow red and in her hand was the rope. All she had to do was yank on it to send that stinging pain through Eris again.
“The boats are in that direction.” Eris used her chin to point beyond them, down the cliff path. “One of which you’ll need if you hope to get to Axis Isle.”
Safire shook her head. “Your friends will be expecting us to go for the boats. We need to get out of this storm.” Safire eyed Eris’s soaked and shivering form. “Otherwise we’ll soon have bigger problems than Kor. We’re going up there.” Safire pointed with her dying torch to a black, looming shape at the top of this cliff.
At the sight of it, Eris went rigid, her thoughts full of smoke and fire.
She shook her head and planted her feet.
“You go right ahead. I’m staying here.”
Safire stared at Eris like she was a small, annoying child.
“How about this,” Safire said, tying the end of Eris’s rope around her belt loop. “If you cooperate, the first thing I’ll do when we get to the capital is find a metalsmith to deal with these.” She tugged on the rope connected to Eris’s steel manacles.
The resulting pain in her wrists made Eris’s anger spark. She gritted her teeth. “So at least I’ll have my hands when you hand me over to the empress’s dogs? I don’t think so.”
Safire stepped in close, grabbing the wet collar of Eris’s shirt and bunching it tight in her fist. “Listen, you petulant piece of sea scum. We are going up there, and if I have to drag you the entire way, I swear to the skies, I will.” Her gaze was hot on Eris’s skin. “Or I can tie you up here and leave you for Kor to deal with. Your choice.”
She let go. Eris fell back, seeing in her eyes that she meant it.
But there was something far worse than Kor waiting for Eris at the scrin.
She felt sick at the thought of it.
Eris could try to overcome Safire, but this girl was the king’s commandant. She was armed now, and Eris knew from watching her spar with her soldiers in Firgaard that Safire was strong and skilled in combat. Eris wasn’t. Eris had always relied on other abilities to survive. Without her spindle, with her hands cuffed, those abilities were severely constricted.
In her current situation, she was no match for Safire. And Kor would have noticed their absence by now. He would have sent Rain and Lila back to the boats, and pressed on ahead himself—or vice versa. If Eris continued to drag her feet, it would only ensure they were caught.
More important, she needed the location of the Namsara. If Eris wanted to track her down, staying close to the Namsara’s cousin was her best option.
“If you cooperate,” said Safire, breaking up her thoughts, “I’ll tell you where I buried your spindle.”
What? Eris glanced up. “I thought you used it for kindling.”
Safire shrugged. “I lied.”
It was then that Eris saw the hard clench of Safire’s jaw—trying to hide the fact that her teeth were chattering. She, too, was soaked to the bone. Wet and cold and shivering.
Eris had a strange, sudden urge to take her somewhere safe, build a fire, and warm her up.
She shook off the ludicrous thought, then looked to the top of the cliff.
If Eris went with Safire now, despite the horror of what lay up there, she would learn where her spindle was buried. At that point, all she’d have to do is get free of this girl and double back to dig it up.
“Fine.” Eris glanced down to the hilt peeking out of Safire’s boot. “But if you want me to cooperate, you need to give me that knife.”
“So you can cut my throat with it?” Safire turned back to the path, tugging Eris after her. “I don’t think so.”
Worth a try, thought Eris, who winced and gave in.
Not that she really had a choice.
By the time the trees thinned, the torch had gone out completely. The lightning flickered across the sky, illuminating their way. They followed the dirt path through the darkness and up the cliffs. When the sandy soil turned to crumbling shale steps wet with sea spray, they started to climb.
Eris’s legs were soon burning as they rose higher into the cliffs. It had been seven years since she’d walked these steps. As the lightning lit up the black sea below, Eris thought of all the nights she’d sat watching storms surge over this same sea. Letting the thunder silence all the unanswered questions inside her.
The higher they rose, the closer they came. With every familiar sight and sound and smell, Eris’s gut twisted. Memories she thought she’d locked away sprung loose, making her nauseous.
I can’t do this. . . .
Eris stopped, halting Safire. She pressed her hands to her knees, trying not to throw up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to keep it all back with the sheer force of her will. “Just . . . an effect of the scarp berries.”
When the nausea—which had nothing to do with the scarp berries—settled, Eris avoided that too-keen gaze and stood. Safire watched her in the darkness. Eris ignored her and pressed on.
Soon she was breathing hard. Her legs shook with exertion. It had been so long since she’d made this climb. But when she looked to Safire, no sweat broke across the girl’s hairline. No wheezing breaths issued out of her lungs. She was as fresh and alert as when they started.
When they arrived at the top of the slab steps, Eris slowed her pace. A huge black shape now loomed before them. Eris felt its presence like a knife in her ribs.
She forced herself to raise her eyes and look. It wasn’t the home of her childhood that stood in front of her now; it was the nightmare she’d run from.
Flashes of lightning illuminated it. Once clay-red and creeping with dark green ivy, the walls were now blackened and scorched. The shattered stained-glass windows gaped like too many mouths of broken teeth. The timbers hadn’t been able to support the roof as it burned, and it had long since caved in.